Aberaeron was a game that was on/off/on as Saturday morning unfolded, with Coastal Cottages sponsored Tenby United eventually agreeing to travel to Ceredigion and play on a local school field, as Aberaeron's usual home pitch at Parc Drefach was deemed unplayable.
As it proved, the decision was correct as the school field was in superb condition, and was given the final OK by referee Tony Pratt, as both sides set about trying to gain entry into the fifth round of the WRU SWALEC Bowl, with Tenby having the extra incentive as Pembrokeshire's sole representative remaining in the three WRU national competitions.
Kicking off, Tenby kept the home side pinned in their 22 for the first few minutes, but after this initial burst of attacking activity, it was Tenby who went on the defensive with wing Simon Stanford twice having to scamper back to clear the ball.
With their tails up, Aberaeron continued to press and from cleanly won lineout ball, the home eight drove over the Tenby line, with second row Neil Snowdon claiming an early try.
From the restart, Tenby again went on the attack, with Simon Stanford fielding a hurried clearance kick and linking with Sam Smith, who in turn released Dan Colley and Arthur MM, only for the attack to fizzle out through lack of support.
Maintaining the momentum, however, it was Ilsa Torau, Toby and Sam Smith who next stretched the home defence, but with Gareth Edwards dropping the ball, it was again Simon Stanford who came to the rescue, fielding a chip ahead by Dylan Evans and hoofing the ball into touch.
From a penalty award, Aberaeron caught Tenby totally flat-footed as the quick tap and go by scrum-half Carl Williams released his threequarters and swift ball transfer and straight running saw wing Jason Freeman crashing over in the corner, to give the home side a thoroughly deserved 10-0 lead.
This was just the wake-up call Tenby needed and with the long journey eventually out of their system, they started to put some threatening moves together and gathering a speculative kick ahead, it was again young Simon Stanford who got things going as he linked with Tom Smith, who in turn released Dai Meyrick, who sprinted clear of the initial line of defence, only for the home side to offend and stop the attack.
Meyrick, however, took a quick tap and go from the penalty award and it was flanker Torau who nearly made the line, but as he slid forward, he popped up the ball to the supporting Dan Colley, who trotted over wide out.
Aberaeron were clearly shaken by this score and were somewhat unsettled as they gave away a string of penalties, which Toby Smith capitalised on by driving the home side way back into their 22 and it was Smith who nearly added to the score, only for his neat chip through to bounce cruelly into touch close to the corner flag.
The lineout that followed saw the home side pressurise Tenby into knocking the ball on, but from the ensuing scrum, a strike against the head enabled burly number eight Sam Smith to pick-up and crash over to bring the scores level, and with brother Toby slotting the conversion, the United took a well-earned 12-10 lead.
The rest of the half was fairly even, with the home side trying to snatch back the advantage and Tenby trying to extend their lead, but it was the defences on both sides that took the honours, with the Tenby back row of Torau, Smith and Richard Rossiter, along with Wyndham Williams and Arthur M-M standing out with some crunching tackles being put in.
Unusually, both packs seemed to dominate the set-piece, with the Tenby eight being shunted back in one scrum, while at the next, the United front row of Robbie Clarke, skipper Nicky Guymer and Lewis Davies completely destroyed the opposite numbers.
Immediately from the restart, a clever piece of interplay involving skipper Nicky Guymer and livewire flanker Torau, forced Aberaeron to infringe at the breakdown and with Tenby getting an extra 10 metres for back chat to referee Pratt, the penalty by Toby Smith took play deep into the Aberaeron 22.
Under pressure from a threequarter line that was right up on the advantage line, the home side attempted a 'miracle pass' which was well intercepted by Dai Meyrick, who scooted over in the corner to give Tenby a well-deserved 17-10 lead.
From the restart, an uncharacteristic knock-on by Gareth Edwards presented the home side with a platform to mount their next attack and from a series of drives on the Tenby line, home number eight Tudor Jenkins burrowed his way over to narrow the scores to 17-15.
Needing to immediately respond, Tenby went straight on the attack and from another good touch-find by Toby Smith, the resulting lineout saw skipper Nicky Guymer emerge as the scorer as the entire Tenby eight drove over the Aberaeron line.
With the scores still close, Tenby needed to score again, to extend the 22-15 lead, but it was the home side who took the initiative when a neat blind-side move by Carl Williams and Ywain ap Dylan saw the centre sliding over in the corner to narrow the scores to 22-20.
Tenby had earlier brought on Johnny Palmer and Luke Dedman for Robbie Clarke and Wyndham Williams and increased the changes with surprisingly Simon Stanford and Torau being replaced by Jimmy Davies and Emori Katakau.
Try as they did, however, centres Brace and Arthur M-M could not break through the resolute home defence and if there was an extra incentive needed by Tenby, it was provided by the home side as hooker Carwyn Davies was yellow-carded.
However, it was the home side who seemed to immediately benefit from the sending off as they pinned Tenby deep in their half and from a series of silly errors the United presented them with the opportunity to win the game when coach Katalu infringed at the lineout and number 10 Dylan Evans stroked the ball between the uprights to give them a 23-22 lead, with the game going into injury time.
With what was considered to be their final opportunity to win the game, a long range penalty attempt by Toby Smith fell short, but rather than hoof the ball into touch, the home side threw the ball around in an attempt to clear their line and a speculative lobbed pass was snatched by Jimmy Davies, who just about made it to the Aberaeron line to slide over for what proved to be the winning score.
Progressing to the fifth round in this WRU competition is a significant achievement and it will be interesting to see who will come out of the hat with Tenby when the next round is drawn. It must, however, be considered as a bonus, as concentration must focus on the league, which hopefully gets back into action this Saturday at Heywood Lane with a game against third-placed Betws.
Accepting that a win is a win, coaches Katalau and Arthur M-M must be concerned about the high number of basic errors that littered this game and while the long lay-off can be put forward as an excuse, along with a long coach trip to Aberaeron and the 'in your face' style adopted by the home side, it does not totally explain why the error count was so high. No doubt discussions will be held during training this week.
Tenby fielded: Dan Colley, Dai Meyrick, Arthur M-M, Gavin Brace, Simon Stanford (Jimmy Davies), Toby Smith, Dan Thomas, Robbie Clarke (Johnny Clarke), Nicky Guymer, Lewis Davies, Gareth Edwards, Wyndham Williams (Luke Dedman), Llsa Tarau (Emori Katalau), Sam Smith, Richard Rossiter.